Walking the Camino

Follow the shell: alwaysWe began our pilgrimage to Santiago two days ago. We were picked up and taken to just outside of Ocebriero and hiked straight up to Ocebreiro for three kilometers. Now I know, many of you are probably thinking that three is not a great distance, so maybe consider it with the view of straight up. Yesterday we trekked for 21Km, a bit of a distance from the first day. It was difficult, I’m not going to lie about that. There was one section mid morning where the incline was darn near impossible. It took me quite a while to make it up to the top. I had many stops along the way just to catch my breath, yet not once did I need to use my emergency inhaler, nor have my back give out on me, nor my knees. God is watching over me and the others. Today Rick and I walked 21K because we over shot our meet up place and had to retrace our steps.
We are with a tour company called Fresco Tours. They take only fourteen people on tour around Spain, but mostly on the camino. So far they have been very informative, have catered to all of us and have booked us into lovely places. Our first night was in an old monastery which had been converted into rooms for pilgrims. Last night and tonight we are in a restored manor house, very beautiful and set in the country. The people of the group we are a part of come from all over. Two from Australia, four from California, one from Arizona, four from Ontario, and then there is Rick and me. Lea is the one from Arizona, 80 years old and managing to keep up just fine. She might be slower than the rest and take a bit longer to reach the end, but she comes through just fine. She is a wealth of wisdom and story. Jane and James are from Australia and they are somewhere in their 70’s. James is a photographer and has captured the beautiful sights along the path. And Jane… well she is a spit-fire and makes me laugh. She’s fun to joke with, tell my story to and purely just banter back and forth with. Enough for today about people on the tour, there are enough days ahead to mention them all. If you are ever interested about Fresco Tours you can find them on the net along with everything about them and their previous tours. What I can say about the walk so far is that the scenery has been absolutely amazing. Beautiful, just beautiful!